Lakhan sifted through 18-tonnes of muck to find the bag after 40 minutes
Indeed, Diwali is a festival that brings about joy. For a woman named Rekha Selukar, the days leading up to the festival were a rollercoaster of emotions ranging from shock to hopelessness and eventually, relief.
As per a report in Timesnownews.com, a resident in Pune's Pimple-Saudagar area, Selukar was very much engrossed in the cleaning process around the house ahead of Diwali. While doing so, she threw away things that will not be needed anymore and were hoarded unnecessary. An old and small handbag was also included in it.
When the “ghanta-gadi” came to take away the garbage, she sent it their way, along with the bag.
However, it was only after two hours when she realized that the bag had gold and silver jewellery in it, worth Rs 3 lakh. It had a mangalsutra, a pair of anklets, and other kinds of jewelry.
Immediately, Selukar contacted a local social worker named Sanjay Kute. He, in turn, alerted the PCMC health department team about the same.
Kute said, "While the Selukar family headed out to the garbage depot, the civic body's staff first ran a check for the ghanta-gadi, if it was still in the area. But it had already dumped its contents into the vat that was picked up by the compactor.”
The civic body's sanitary inspector, Sushil Malayie, was informed about the mishap. He got the depot's data analyst, Hemant Lakhan, to get to work and try and find the bag. He was able to locate the compactor which could possibly have the bag.
Despite it not being his actual work, Lakhan went out of his way and actually sifted through 18-tonnes of muck to find the bag. After 40 minutes of searching through the garbage, the bag was found
The obviously anxious Selukar family was called to the garbage dump where they were handed the all-important pouch by Lakhan. "If we'd delayed it any further, the compactor would have dumped the garbage and then it would have been impossible to locate the bag from the huge pile," Lakhan said.
The family was relieved when the bag was back in their hands. They were extremely grateful to Lakhan.
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